Supro Guitars and Equipment

Valco was formed from the reorganization of the National-Dobro company in 1942. Manufacturing of resonator guitars ceased with the
introduction of metal rationing in World War II, and the focus was placed on Spanish- and Hawaiian-style guitars and amplifiers.
Valco quickly became one of the leading manufacturers of lap steels, alongside Magnatone, Gibson and Rickenbacker, and the
company also sold acoustic guitars with National necks and bodies by Gibson. A number of electric archtop models were sold with
bodies by Gibson, Harmony, and Kay, but fitted with Valco-made pickups, hardware and necks.

Following the leads of Fender's Telecaster and Gibson's Les Paul models, Valco introduced its first solidbody Spanish guitars in 1952
under the National and Supro brand names. These small guitars had peanut-shaped bodies and chunky, 25"-scale necks;
the bodies were available with or without cutaways and with one or two pickups. The National-branded guitars were available in a dark
sunburst finish, while the Supro equivalents were at first covered in a plastic faux-pearlescent plastic commonly referred to as
'mother of toilet seat'. Guitars sold under other brand names, such as Oahu, generally followed Supro stylings.

These were fairly plain, understated instruments, however, so in 1955 Valco introduced the National model 1104, also called the
Town and Country. This new top-of-the-line guitar was designed to compete with Gibson's Les Paul model, complete with a single-cutaway
body and two large, chrome-covered pickups. The solid maple body had ivory-colored binding and a matching plate covering the back.
The bound neck was bolted on and inlayed with fancy parallelogram fret markers. The first professional-quality Valco solidbody had arrived.

By the end of the 1950's Valco had introduced a variety of guitars under the National and Supro names, and it had also begun building
guitars for other retailers' brands such as Academy and Silvertone. The Supro Dual-Tone is probably the most famous guitar from this
period. In 1959 many of these models were radically updated with German carves and additional small cutaways on the bass side.
Some models were available with Bigsby vibratos or Valco's own vibrato design, and the Silver-sound pickup was introduced.

About the beginning of the 1960's, Valco had ceased production of most archtop models and revamped its amplifier line.
National amps now bore flashy chrome panels, and the largest ones quickly grew to accommodate two 12" speakers, plus effects like
tremolo and reverb. Supro amps, as well as those made for other brands, were mostly covered in conventional tolex with appealing piping.
Valco also experimented briefly with other electronic devices like the Supro Stereo Converter, which took a mono input and sent
the high frequencies to one amp and the bass frequencies to another. Amps were also built for an increasing number of brands,
such as Vega and Martin.

Valco guitars were also revamped at this time. In 1961, National and Supro guitars debuted with hollow fiberglass bodies
(called res-o-glas in company literature) in bright, opaque finishes. These fairly expensive guitars came out of molds, not
carving shops, and the result was unlike anything produced before or since. A res-o-glas bass was also introduced but failed to sell,
probably due to its extremely short 25" scale. The top-of-the-line National res-o-glas models, such as the Glenwood series,
are by far the most collectable Valco products ever made.

Supro amps were visually revamped about 1966 to keep up with changing styles, although their circuitry changed little. They now
sported blue-green striped control panels and slider switches, and some of the larger ones had separate heads that could be stored
and transported inside matching cabs. While these amps sound just as good as models from a year before, they lack the earlier amps'
visual flair and collectability. National amps suffered the same unfortunate restyling by 1968. Valco produced some solid-state
amp models around this time.

For a long time, Valco guitars and amps were traded on the cheap in the vintage market while the likes of Fender and Gibson ruled at
the cash register. However, there has been a recent surge of interest in Valco amps - particularly Supro models - which has lead to
the Zinky company producing a line of Valco-inspired models under the Supro name. Valco-built guitars aren't usually as sought-after
as the amps, but they too are gaining ground in the vintage market. Now that the most desirable Fenders and Gibsons are out of many
people’s reach, folks are turning to other brands and realizing that there is something magical about those Valco instruments that
they've previously ignored.